Severson Pau. What a life!
That’s too bad. I agree. What a life!!!
I will be forever thankful for the man and his publication, it has taken me all over the world.
I had seen Surfers and Surfing at a very old wooden Pismo Pier and at the Ventura/SB Point Breaks along Hwy 1 . In those days Hwy 1 went thru the heart of Ventura(i.e. Thompson). I grew up in the “Valley”. Not San Fernando, but San Joaquin. The first Surf mag I came across was “Surfing”. Petersen’s Surfing Magazine. Published by Petersen Publishing. The same folks who did Hot Rod Magazine. A few months later a friend showed me a copy of the original Surfer. By the time I had seen that 1st original Surfer the magazine had already gone Bi-Monthly. Surf Guide was also around and for a time was considered the “class” of the three. Interesting and in a way very personal to me what has occurred this year. The final iteration/incarnation of “Surfing Magazine” ceased publication. And John Severson the creator of Surfer Magazine has passed on. Regardless of what anyone thinks of either and their importance to this Activity and Lifestyle may be; those two publications fed a young boys stoke and desire to Surf and be known as a Surfer until the dream became reality.
Severson basically invented “surf media”. He began making movies. Guys would bug him for prints of themselves from still frames in his movies. After a point, he decided to do a book instead of selling 8x10s one at a time. The first was so successful he figured he might as well do a magazine. It was a quarterly publication for issues 2 through 6. In the summer of 1962 it went bi-monthly.
He wasn’t just a magazine publisher and film maker, he was a very talented artist. Except for his last movie, he did all the poster art for his films. The first few issues of his magazine were basically a one man deal. He wrote the articles, took the photos, and did the graphics.
The old “Dana Point Mafia” is almost gone.
If you haven’t yet, go to his website and check out his art. Especially the movie posters. Classic style all the way.
www.surferart.com
He was a huge influence on my life. My brother started buying Surfer mag in the late 60’s. It opened our eyes to a different kind of surfing. We spent quite a bit of time at the beach playing in the shore break, bodysurfing and riding belly boards, but the pictures in the mag showed us a different world. We came of age as surfers during the transition from traditional longboards to shorter boards, and our first real boards were 6’ 8" or 6’ 10" Dextra popouts. Then my dad took our whole family to see Pacific Vibrations at the old King Theater in Honolulu. Driving in to town was a big deal, we usually did it to see his siblings or go to Ala Moana Shopping Center to get new clothes for the coming school year. I have the DVD and when I watch it, I can’t begin to think what he and mom were thinking when they saw it. I just remembered the shots of Honolua with Jock and Hakman, and the stuff with BK and Hamilton.
RIP Mr Severson.
This sums it perfectly ! Fueled many daydream filled school days looking out the window paying no attention at all to the talking head babbling in the front of the room. Staring at pics cut and glued to book covers , opened inside folders only wishing to be in that photo . Thanks John Severson aloha!
His website is now just a tribute page, apparently. There’s a good obituary written by his former cohort, Drew Kampion. Kampon was the second editor of the mag, after Severson split to Maui.
He lived a charmed life. I’d forgotten about this part:
He was drafted in 1957. He lucked out and was stationed on Oahu as a map maker. While there, he was also on the US Army Surf Team.
If you want to check out his movie poster art, go to
www.surfclassics.com
I remember vividly awaiting each issue of Surfer. At the time, it was our only connection with the larger surf world. We would sit cross-legged on the terrazo floors of our bedrooms, each of us craning our necks to see the next page. We were just amazed at the waves, surfers, and locales in each issue.
Decades later, with gray starting to show in my hair, I finally got to see in person some of the spots we fantasized about. It was with that same 12 year old stoke that we traveled and surfed strange lands, customs, languages and cultures.
I also have an original watercolor framed in my home done by Mr. Severson.
So, Mr. Severson, I am grateful for your all of your endeavors that led to my lifetime of stoke.